Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRDN) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday after Oppenheimer lowered their price target on the stock from $36.00 to $31.00. The stock had previously closed at $14.90, but opened at $14.18. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Viridian Therapeutics shares last traded at $13.96, with a volume of 105,529 shares traded.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on VRDN. B. Riley lowered shares of Viridian Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $25.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Viridian Therapeutics from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $37.00 target price on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded Viridian Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.60.

Institutional Trading of Viridian Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 122.6% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 8,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $182,000 after purchasing an additional 4,610 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth $208,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,915 shares of the company’s stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 1,058 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 71.1% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 15,164 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,000 after buying an additional 6,303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Viridian Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth about $264,000.

Viridian Therapeutics Stock Down 6.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 18.26 and a current ratio of 18.26. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $16.46 and its 200 day moving average is $17.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $890.29 million, a PE ratio of -2.63 and a beta of 1.14.

Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.79) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.07) by $0.28. Viridian Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 75,711.48% and a negative return on equity of 121.80%. The business had revenue of $0.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.09 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.61) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 26.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. will post -4.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Viridian Therapeutics

Viridian Therapeutics, Inc, a biotechnology company, discover and develops treatments for serious and rare diseases. The company's product pipeline includes VRDN-001, a monoclonal antibody targeting insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor that is in Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of thyroid eye disease (TED); and VRDN-003, a next generation IGF-1R humanized monoclonal antibodies targeting IGF-1R and incorporating half-life extension technology for the treatment of TED.